Climate change and its impact on public health hasn't made the top of the agenda even at a forum like the UN Climate Conference, but is should, say the health community.
Understanding the gap, more than 100 organizations from across the international health and climate community came together as the
Global Climate and Health Alliance and have called wealthy countries to protect people's health by committing to provide climate finance in the order of a trillion dollars annually, in addition to global action with leadership from the highest emitting countries to end the fossil fuel era.
Riad Meddeb, Director of the Sustainable Energy Hub at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), stressed the urgency of finding innovative financial solutions during COP29.
The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties on climate change has officially kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the promise of striking yet another historic global climate deal and finance adaptation, gender responsive action and financing, and forgotten issues such as food waste are top on the agenda as every action is as crucial as every fraction in the rise or fall of a Celsius degree.
The Head of Impact Assessment and Adaptation, Henry Neufeldt, UN Environment Programme Copenhagen Climate Centre, has called for increased climate adaptation funding, particularly for developing nations facing significant climate risks.
The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) 2024 Adaptation Gap Report has warned that adaptation actions are not keeping pace with the surging demands of a warming planet. Released ahead of the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, the report—titled
Come Hell and High Water—projected a bleak future where vulnerable communities bear the brunt of climate-induced hardships.
Standing high on the vertiginous edge of the future and looking down into a volcanic seething of approaching doom, it is a totally understandable desire to want to close your eyes, walk away and turn on the sports channel. If you have one.
At Gabimori primary school, located at Nyamagaro ward in Tanzania’s northern Rorya district, a 15-year-old Florence Sadiki kneels among polyethylene bags, carefully examining the seedlings she and her classmates have nurtured from tiny sprouts “We’ve planted many trees to make our school look better and to help fight climate change,” she says.
Climate finance will be at the epicenter of the discussion at the UN Climate Change Conference 2024 (COP29). The focus will be on strengthening the fund and defining the conditions under which the countries of the Global South will be able to access this money. However, little is said about the scientific research that is required to gather the evidence and data to prove the loss and damage caused by the impact of climate change in developing countries.
At the 2021 UN Climate Summit, Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley
called for more and better use of
special drawing rights (SDRs), the International Monetary Fund’s reserve asset.
Anne Olhoff, Chief Climate Advisor at UNEP, underlined the urgent need for accelerated climate action ahead of COP29 in an exclusive interview with IPS. “The next six years are crucial—without accelerated action, we will miss the chance to limit warming to 1.5°C,” she warned.
The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report 2024 delivered a stark reminder that the world is still far from meeting its climate commitments.
The impact of climate change continues to devastate economies worldwide, creating a pressing need for all countries to significantly increase international climate finance. To drive critical action towards reduced climate risks and sustainable economic growth calls for expanded access to affordable, predictable finance at scale.
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are experiencing the most severe impacts of climate change. When leaders of those islands met in Antigua and Barbuda in May, they let the world know that achieving climate justice hinges on comprehensive climate finance.
A report examining corporate capture of public finance is accusing industries fueling the climate crisis, including fossil fuel ones, of draining public funds in the Global South, singling them out for squeezing out of governments USD 700 billion in public subsidies each year.
The Great Rift Valley is part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. A breathtaking, diverse mix of natural beauty that includes dramatic escarpments, highland mountains, cliffs and gorges, lakes and savannas. It is also home to one of Africa’s greatest wildlife reserves—the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
With fewer than 100 days to go to COP29, the highest decision-making body on climate issues under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the need for creative and innovative solutions to protect lives and livelihoods is now extremely urgent.
Three months ahead of the COP29 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has called for an emergency response from the international community as new data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reveals a critical deterioration in the state of the climate.
UN General Secretary General António Guterres warned of the wide-ranging impacts of climate change on a visit to the Pacific islands of Samoa and Tonga.
"(Climate change) spells disaster: wide-ranging and brutal impacts, coming far thicker and faster than we can adapt to them—destroying entire coastal communities,” said Guterres, speaking at a meeting of Pacific Island leaders in Tonga
.
Goalkeeper Rehana Jamali, 17, is jubilant. Her team came in second in the All Sindh Women Hockey Tournament, held last month.
Kenya contributes less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions every year, yet development banks have flagged the East African nation as a high climate risk. This is due to extreme weather changes that are increasingly threatening the country’s development agenda, widening socio-economic inequalities, and deepening rural poverty and hunger.
Cyclones and floods have become increasingly frequent across different parts of India, posing a significant threat to the country's population.